Distance
by norowareta
Summary: Looking at him now… made feelings squirm in his stomach that he couldn’t put a name to. Looking at him now… it felt bizarre.


**Note: **A little something to celebrate hitting the 5000-hit (...all right, so it's 4,999 as I upload, but hey...) mark over on my other Ouran fic. I'm working on the next chapter, and I know it's been a long time coming. Just bare with me a little longer, okay?

I can't say this is anything special, just something I scribbled out in my journal. In pencil. As always the title has very little relation to the piece itself... it was a prompt but I never do well at sticking to them...

**Warnings? **Spoilers up to chapter 67 of the manga, but only very, _very_ slight ones. There's also a heavy dose of speculation in there, as well. Implied Kao/Hika/Haru in various combinations and, yeah. General lack of planning and direction. My humblest apologies. Ah well, it's going up regardless.

* * *

"…oi, Kaoru?"

"Hmm?" He paused in his task briefly, glancing down at his brother before giving the wig another firm tug. There was a pout set firmly on Hikaru's face. Kaoru knew that look. It meant he was thinking about something.

"What is it?" he asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed, laying his hand on top of his brother's. It was a familiar sign for them. It meant Hikaru had his undivided attention.

As if Kaoru would ever let his focus wander elsewhere.

"Do you…" he fidgeted, looking distinctly uncomfortably. "D'ya thank this is going to work out?" Kaoru smiled back.

"Sure it is," came his confident reply, before he hesitated. "…oh."

Tono was bound to work out something from this.

"Yeah." Hikaru mumbled quietly, training his eyes on the floor.

Kaoru bit his lip. If everything went according to plan, this would yield the worst possible result for Hikaru. If the plan went down the drain – which was exactly what they were working to _avoid_…

Ironically, it seemed, the best possible outcome as far as Hikaru was concerned, would be the worst possible outcome for him. That fact alone made him feel particularly guilty. Childishly, he still wanted his brother all to himself. Not that he publicised the fact – he was the more mature one, after all.

Well. Supposedly.

It was only common sense that prevented Kaoru from acting as possessively over Hikaru as he did over Haruhi. After all, as far as anyone else was concerned, their acts of love at the host club were precisely that - acts. Their adoring public weren't likely to react well if presented with the knowledge that, at least on one side, the feelings ran a little deeper than the mere parodies of romance they presented.

He thought he'd resolved it once before – that day they'd been out on the ski slopes, that day that had culminated in Hikaru and Souga being brought back by Mori-senpai, and a decent-sized mountain rescue team. They'd left Hikaru in his care when it was clear all he needed was a little rest, and he had stolen a kiss while his brother was still unconscious.

There, he'd told himself firmly. Let that be the end of it.

And it had been. For a while. He hought it had been done with then and there, that he'd just let go of it the same way he'd let go of Haruhi.

It hadn't been that easy - he'd been foolish to think it would be. But he'd promised he'd stick by Hikaru and help him through this. He had no intention of going back on that now. And that meant he had to forge on through – regardless.

The mattress shifted a little and he felt the warmth of Hikaru's hand leave his.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "I always end up coming to you with my problems… must be really selfish of me."

He hadn't said anything, Kaoru realised. He should have said something.

And then Hikaru did something he hadn't expected. He turned to him and he smiled.

"Anyway, yeah. It'll work out eventually, right?"

For a moment, Kaoru was absolutely thrown. Somewhere along the line he'd got used to the idea of Hikaru and himself _not_ being identical anymore. Somewhere along the line turning to his brother and _not_ seeing the sideways sweep of hair identical in colour to his and ceased to have such a jarring effect on him.

Looking at him now… made feelings squirm in his stomach that he couldn't put a name to. Looking at him now… it felt _bizarre_.

And yet his brother carried on grinning.

"It's about time I fixed something for you right? So? What's going on?"

Kaoru got to his feet; standing directly in front of Hikaru and slipping the wig off his head, stroking his dark hair back into place again. Much better.

"Nothing at all." He rested his hands briefly on the lapels of his brother's uniform before carrying the hairpiece back to its box on the table.

"The wig looks fine," he added over his shoulder. "No one will be able to tell."


End file.
